Katyusha rises first the night after the party, and almost immediately she wishes she could bury her head beneath the pillows in blissful ignorance once more. Crumbs blanket every surface of the apartment, there are a stack of dishes in the sink so tall they could rival the Carpathians, and one unfortunate guest seems to have lost the contents of their stomach on the bathroom floor.

It should have dawned on her last night that their apartment was far too small for an event of that size, how many guests were there ? 40, 50 ? Jeez, Lily didn't do things by halves. But it probably wouldn't have changed anything even if she or Elizabeta had realized. Coming home to all of your friends armed with enough confetti, party poppers, and glitter to stock a five-year-old's art class for a year tends to overwhelm one's sense of reason. It really got to her sentimental side, which isn't so much a side as it is her nature, but who could blame her ? She only plans on getting married the once and it is heart warming that all her friends want to celebrate her impending nuptials with her and Elizabeta.

Katyusha makes a start on the kitchen. She loads what she can into the dishwasher, but she's barely made a dent in the pile by the time it fills. While she scrubs the remainder, she briefly wonders if she could make a trade off with her guests. Perhaps she could forgo wedding presents in exchange for a few dozen pairs of helping hands. But she perseveres, suffering now, knowing it'll all be worth it once she has her sparkling kitchen once again.

When that's done, and God, does it take an age to finish, she heads to the living room. The dirt on the carpet is the most notable of problems, but she can't exactly hoover with Elizabeta still sleeping. She glances at the clock and sees it's only 10:27am; a perfectly reasonable hour to still be in bed at on a Saturday morning after a long night. She decides that Elizabeta can have her lie in, but she's the one lumped with floor duty as a compromise.

She's taking down a banner reading "Congratulations Kat & Liz" when Elizabeta does wake, and enters the living dressed in polka dot pyjamas and with hair like a birds nest. "You could have woke me, it's not fair to let you do all this by yourself" she says, hopping up on an armchair to untie the other half of the banner.

Katyusha shrugs, walking towards Elizabeta to fold the banner in half. They'll keep it as a memento, even if it doesn't use their full names. "Congratulations Katyusha & Elizabeta" was too long for the printers, Lily had said. "It's still early and we have all day to get this done. Besides, there's still plenty of work left to do."

"Alright, where should I start ?" Elizabeta asks, rolling up the sleeves of her hoodie, Katyusha's hoodie to be precise. She's already begun embracing the "what's mine is yours" philosophy.

"I haven't touched the bathroom yet, start there."

Elizabeta makes her way to the bathroom and is immediately confronted with one of the foulest odors she's ever been subjected to. She holds her nose and remembers all she's heard about marriage being a sacrifice.